ABSTRACT
At first glance Boisguilbert’s texts present several difficulties which the reader must overcome in order to grasp the significance and coherence of his work. Some of these difficulties result from his ‘leaden’ style, or his occasional apparently contradictory remarks; but there are also other more serious difficulties. For example, the vocabulary employed may lead to errors, not so much on account of seventeenth-century language, but because of his particular usage of certain words such as bien or revenu, whose meanings we shall examine. Once this difficulty is surmounted, the purely technical and economic aspects of the various texts under consideration may be misleading by creating the impression of a facade of false simplicity. Boisguilbert’s texts are undeniably scientific in character, achieving a refinement rarely obtained previously. But to limit our understanding to this aspect, without pursuing the enquiry any further, would be to risk at least a partial misunderstanding of the theoretical construction, if not misinterpretations. The intellectual climate of the era, political and religious opinions and theoretical origins are all extremely important, if only to clarify this author’s particular contribution and the meaning of his project; and it must be admitted that as far as this aspect is concerned, Boisguilbert hardly facilitates our task.
